The Planned Wars: Israel 5- The Arabs 1

It's amazing how sometimes wars just happen. As if the fighting parties decided that well, it's time to make a war. A great example is the Arab-Israeli wars. Going back to 1948, it looks as if the children of Abraham decided then that they are so bored by whatever they are doing and that the best way to overcome boredom is by waging wars. It's interesting to look back to see the sequence of these wars. In 1948, the UN and the major powers recognized the State of Israel, the cousins, the Arabs rejected and waged a war. The Arabs lost, Israel won. So far 1-0 for the other Semites. In 1967, the 1956 war is not counted as it was not really between the Arabs and Israel, a questionable Arab leader with childish behavior and ambitions by the name of Nasser, former president of Egypt, decided that the cousins in Israel can not use the straits of Teran on the Red Sea for their business. Israel rejected, Nasser got stubborn,and took actions in Sinai, including the closure of the straits, that almost constituted a wage of war. Israel attacked and won. The Arabs lost the rest of the land that they lost in part in 1948 due to another childish behavior. The score now is 2-0 for Israel.In 1973 the Arabs, according to Egyptian president Anwar Sadat who succeeded Nasser in 1970, needed some sort of a moral victory over Israel to permit them to negotiate with dignity. The parties felt compelled again for another war. The Egyptians and the Syrians attacked. They won a little in the beginning and then Israel under a commander by the name of Ariel Sharon rebounded and took care of surrounding the Egyptian third army in Sinai to improve Israel negotiating stand. I will give this war a score of 1-1, a draw for the cousins. In 1982, somebody in London got creative and decided, why not assassinate the Israel ambassador there and score some points against Israel. Israel, to the astonishment of the world, responded and invaded Lebanon and ended the Palestinian presence there and lift. The score now is 4-1 for Israel. By the early 1980s a new/old player came to the scene, the Iranians and the Shiite behind them and under there black turbans. A new militant organization was created in Lebanon to substitute for the kicked Palestinian militia. Lebanon since it's independence has always had some sort of quasi government, someone who claimed to fight for some reason. Hezbollah was created and took it on it's own, the Lebanese government as has always been is a guest in it's own country, to fight Israel. It did for few years. Israel lift the whole Lebanese territory and Hezbollah got some credit. I'm not going to score this one because the withdrawal was not part of a direct war but because i believe Israel just did not intend to stay. This Shiite militia continued to harass the Israeli and negotiate with them and then cry foul and such. In 2006 for another mysterious reason, this militia decided to go inside the Israeli territories and kidnaps some soldiers, very smart. So they did and before them Hamas did the same in the Israel-free Gaza. Another big question: Why? besides the obvious stupidity. Israel responded in both incidents, surprise surprise.. and attacked Gaza and Lebanon. Both places were rebounding and now engulfed in wars that do not make any sense except that Hamas and Hezbollah's goals are to create havoc and that this is the only way to keep them and Iran as active players in the insane game of wars. The war is still on and we do not know, us the commoners, how it will end and what will happen to those fighting parties. Until then the game is on.

Word Cup 2006: Vulgarity Vs. Class

The vulgar action of France football player and Team captain Zinedine Zidane during the second and last over time of world cup championship match with Italy is beyond any shame. It's an act of vulgarity. Zidane, famous of his head butts, reached the peak of vulgarity and stupidity when he head butted an Italian player with no provocation whatsoever. He will forever go down in history as probably the player that caused his country to lose the 2006 World Cup. It has been the eternal question since the beginning of man kind on why people drive themselves to ruin. History gives us unlimited number of successful people and leaders who just for some reason drove their success down the drain. Zidane is one of these people. In 1998, he helped his team to achieve the world cup in football, soccer, and in 2002, he did not play at all due to an injury which might have caused his team to lose. In this year,2006, world cup games, Zidane excelled in more than one occasions, although some of his penalty kicks were questionable- the blame in this case goes to the referees whose responsibility is to make sure that they have not been fooled by the players into getting penalties that are not warranted- drove his team, and country into a shame. Some psychologists and motivation coaches attribute this to a human nature that drives some people to just quit or destroy themselves for no apparent reason. Is it that we, some of us, just get bored of success or want continuously to be challenged that we chose a road that would challenge us in a n negative rather positive way. Having raised these questions, I noticed, as in Zidane's example that some of these successful people have had a pattern of just doing things that affects their careers negatively. Michael Jackson comes in mind as well as President Bill Clinton and others.